Dozens of miles away to the south is the Tianshan Mountains. Guo Song and the others were not familiar with this area. No one had been here. Fortunately, they had done enough homework before setting off and learned about the terrain in detail. They walked west along the foothills, all the way
They are all smooth roads. Although there are many forests and rivers in the middle, they will not affect the Tang army's progress.
However, the Shatuo Army behind them was chasing in a hurry, and the Tang Army could not get rid of it. They ran for more than 70 miles in one breath, and there was a narrow valley mouth in front of them. The canyon was less than a mile long, with abrupt rocks on the right and a steep mountain on the left.
The hills and canyons are so narrow that only a few people can walk side by side.
This is a good place to retreat from the enemy. Guo Song shouted to Li Ji: "Take the brothers and leave quickly, and block them here for a while."
Guo Chongqing reined in his horse and said, "I'll accompany you!"
Li Ji hesitated, and Guo Song said sternly: "This is an order, do you want to disobey the military order?"
Li Ji had no choice but to shout: "Let's go!"
He led his cavalry and galloped away.
When Guo Song saw a huge boulder standing at the mouth of the valley, he said to Guo Chongqing: "I'm here to stop and kill the enemy. You shoot arrows behind the boulder!"
Guo Chongqing's martial arts and archery skills cannot be compared with Guo Song's, but after all, he is an external warrior of the Guo family. His martial arts and archery skills are not good. He also uses a hard bow that is worth one stone and five fights. He immediately ducked behind the big stone and drew out
Shot an arrow.
Guo Song stood at the mouth of the valley, standing on horseback with a horizontal halberd, looking coldly at the Shatuo cavalry team pursuing them in the distance.
The Shatuo cavalrymen who were running at the front suddenly spotted Guo Song and reined in their horses one after another, not daring to step forward.
Immediately, a thousand captain chased him. This thousand captain was the one who fell into the trap before. He was scolded by Zhu Xie Jinhai, which made him lose face. At this time, the thousand captain saw that there was only a Tang Army cavalry general blocking the way at the mouth of the valley. He
Eager to achieve great results, he swung his long-handled hammer to kill Guo Song.
Guo Song sneered and said: "Leave this man to me and don't shoot arrows!"
The nomadic generals are far inferior to the Central Plains generals in skills such as marksmanship and swordsmanship, but they are generally stronger and have strong horse control abilities. Most of the weapons they use are powerful, such as maces and long-handled hammers.
One-legged bronze man, iron rod, etc.
The captain used a long-handled hammer weighing fifty kilograms with a fierce force. The horse galloped. He raised the hammer high and was about to hit Guo Song with the force of a mountain.
Guo Song snorted coldly and ignored his sledgehammer at all. He straightened his halberd and the tip of the halberd instantly reached the captain's chest.
The captain never dreamed that the opponent's halberd was so fast. He was shocked and instinctively wanted to take back the hammer, but it was too late. 'Poof!' The halberd pierced his chest. The captain screamed and was killed on the spot. The hammer
It fell from mid-air and hit him hard on his shoulder.
Guo Song lifted the captain's body high, threw it several feet away, and shouted in the grassland Tiele language: "Who else wants to come here to die?"
At this time, a large group of Shatuo cavalry arrived. When Zhu Xiejinhai saw the commander lying on the ground, he immediately became furious and ordered: "Shoot him to death with an arrow!"
The Shatuo cavalry fired arrows together, and Guo Song waved his halberd to hit the arrows. He stepped back step by step. He shouted to Guo Chongqing: "Do you see that enemy general wearing a golden helmet? That's the general, shoot.
Kill him!"
"I know!"
Guo Chongqing calmly drew an arrow and waited patiently for the opportunity. At this time, Guo Song had retreated to the mouth of the valley. The Shatuo cavalry stopped firing arrows, and nearly a hundred cavalry came up to kill him.
Guo Song rushed out from the mouth of the valley again, his halberd flying, and he knocked down more than 20 people in a row.
Guo Chongqing also waited for the opportunity. He drew his bow and shot an arrow. The wolf-tooth arrow shot straight into the left chest of the opponent's general like lightning, but his arrow was not as fast as Guo Song's. Zhu Xie Jinhai spotted the arrow in front of him, and he quickly dodged to the right.
The arrow missed his vital point, but hit his left shoulder. Zhu Xie Jinhai screamed in pain, turned over and fell off his horse.
At this time, Guo Song had killed more than fifty people. The cavalrymen he killed died extremely tragically, with their limbs scattered and their heads rolling around. The other soldiers were so frightened that they turned their horses and fled back.
Guo Song laughed loudly and said to Guo Chongqing: "Let's go!"
The two men turned their horses, one after the other, and galloped along the canyon.
The Shatuo cavalry stopped pursuing. Guo Song and Guo Chongqing met up with Li Ji and his party thirty miles away. Li Ji had to stop, and the two wounded soldiers died of their injuries.
By a small river, soldiers were resting by the river. Military doctors and several soldiers were busy treating the wounded.
Guo Song looked at the wounded soldiers and listened to Li Ji's casualty report. His face was as gloomy as water.
"We had more than 30 casualties, including 18 killed and 13 wounded. Among the soldiers killed, five died of serious injuries."
After a pause, Li Ji continued: "I want the wounded soldiers to go to Jinman County to recuperate. If this continues, they will not survive."
Guo Song nodded, "Okay, you can discuss this matter with Chongqing and make arrangements!"
Guo Song then summoned the generals to discuss the situation. Now there were only five people left in the six-member team, but there were also more than 240 soldiers left.
Guo Song said to everyone: "It can be seen that the enemy's determination to annihilate us is very firm. This is still Tingzhou. When we get to Yizhou, we will have to face tens of thousands of Shatuo troops. There are two methods now. One is to attack
When heading north to the desert, one option is to return to Anxi, go to Dunhuang via the original route, and bypass Yizhou. What do you think?"
Li Ji pondered for a while and said: "Going north is the home base of the Shatuo people. Even if we break through, it is still the territory of the Xueyantuo people. There is a narrow escape from death. I advocate going south and take advantage of the opportunity when Tuguhun is severely damaged by us to start from the original route.
return."
Everyone expressed their willingness to go south. After all, the south was more familiar and the Tuyuhun soldiers were far less powerful than the Shatuo cavalry.
Guo Song nodded, "Since everyone agrees, let's go south!"
After the Tang army rested for a long time, Li Ji sent two soldiers to take the wounded soldiers to Jinman County for treatment, and the team set off again, heading west.
Guo Chongqing whispered: "I'm afraid the Huihe people won't let us pass through the Wusun Ancient Road this time."
Guo Song smiled bitterly and said: "Let's try it first! If it doesn't work, go back to Jinman County first and wait for the opportunity."
Three days later, the cavalry of the Tang Army arrived at the Wusun Ancient Road again. As expected, Guo Chongqing guessed it. The Uighurs stationed heavy troops at the entrance of the Wusun Ancient Road, tens of thousands of them, and blocked the entire Wusun Ancient Road inside and outside.
Even if the Tang army abandoned their horses and climbed over the mountains, they would still be unable to overcome the snow-capped Tianshan Mountains.
They were still two miles away from the mountain pass when they were spotted by a secret sentinel from Huihe. Several guns fired into the sky. Not long after, a patrol cavalry came running from the camp and stopped several hundred steps away.
Li Ji asked Ying: "Let me go and negotiate with them!"
Guo Song shook his head, "How can you negotiate with them if you don't understand the language? No one here understands their language except me and Chongqing. It's better for me to negotiate in person!"
As soon as he urged his horse to run forward, Guo Chongqing quickly followed. He had followed Guo Ziyi for many years and knew a little bit about the Huihe language.
Still dozens of steps away from the cavalry, Guo Song shouted loudly in Tiele language: "We are envoys from the Tang Dynasty coming from Chang'an. We are going to Anxi via the road. Please let us pass!"
The leading centurion said for a long time: "You wait!"
He turned his horse around and went back to the camp.
Less than a quarter of an hour later, a Huihe civil servant followed out. He saluted Guo Song on his horse, "I'm sorry, it was our Khan who gave the order. No one is allowed to pass through the Wusun Ancient Road again, including you!
"
"But we are not hostile, we just want to take advantage of it!"
The civil servant shook his head and said: "You have already passed by once before. It is because you did not hurt anyone, so I am talking to you properly now. Otherwise, we would have surrounded you and wiped them out. You go back! No one has given the order of the Khan."
Dare to disobey, if you want to force a breakthrough and become enemies of the Uighurs, then we will no longer tolerate the Tang army in Tingzhou, please think again."
Guo Chongqing asked in a low voice: "How did he know it was us before?"
"They should have interrogated the herdsmen in the valley. Forget it, let's go back first."
Guo Song cupped his fists and saluted, turned his horse's head and returned to the temporary station. A patrol cavalry followed them and monitored them from a distance.
Back at the station, Li Ji came up to him and asked, "How was it?"
Guo Song shook his head, "The Uighurs have clearly rejected our request to use the passage. It was their Khan who personally gave the order. There should be no room for negotiation."
"How about we rush over at night?"
Guo Chongqing, who was next to him, objected: "They have tens of thousands of people and are heavily fortified. We can't rush through. Even if we rush through, we will suffer heavy casualties, and it will also implicate the Tang army in Tingzhou. Attacking by force is not the best option!"
"What should we do?" Li Ji was a little anxious. The road going south was also blocked. Could it be that they could only take a detour to the north?
Guo Song pondered for a moment and said, "Let's go back to Tingzhou first!"
Everyone turned their horses and ran towards Tingzhou.